ITN Gets Thumbs Up in ZDNet.com Blog

Cristen C. Bolan, Editor, Imaging Technology News

Most blogs are soapboxes for highly-opinionated cyber junkies convinced that readers find their words worth reading. In the case of Roland Piquepaille, a blogger on ZDNet.com who reports on emerging technologies, he puts the onus on the reader to decide if the material he provides is “Worthwhile.” Recently, the readers cast their votes in favor of Imaging Technology News’ article “Radiology and GI Imaging Close the Divide” (ITN, April 2007).
In the blog, Piquepaille notes that there has been a lot of talk about medical robots lately as The Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer have covered automated medical devices that crawl and swim through the human body, taking close-up snapshots of biological systems.
But what has caught the attention of many clinicians, curiosity-seekers and the press is the “swimming” robot for the GI tract developed by Nobuhiko Hata, the technical director of image-guided therapy at Brigham And Women’s Hospital and a professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School. Piquepaille cites ITN’s interview with Hata in “Radiology and GI Imaging Close the Divide,” (April issue 2007) where he describes his image-snapping robot with free-style maneuverability. The robot swims through the GI tract propelled by fins that are magnetically guided by an MRI system. This is unique because current capsule endoscopes are passive or simply row in a straight path through the tract.
Piquepaille prompted the readers to respond to a simple thumbs up/thumbs down symbol asking if the story was “Worthwhile?” ITN is proud to note that it achieved a decisive thumbs up vote. The readers have spoken.